What makes a knife cool?

[BladeScout]

-is it bigXXs
-Is it titanium.
-is it a sword.

if all three, then its cool

 

[Mecha]

I mean yeah, if you really think driving a Pontiac Aztec is cool...

It's a conundrum, in that the coolest people are very often the ones who care the least whether or not other people think they're cool. However in an object, coolness is at least somewhat defined by popular opinion, I think. In the "who cares" option, it really boils down to not caring if anyone THINKS the knife is cool, not whether or not the knife is actually cool or not.

 

[BladeScout]

Ice
View attachment 957649

What is it? Looks good. The knife that is.

 

[Mecha]

I kinda think users with genuine wear are cool. Battle scars, sharpened to preference, worn coatings, etc.

I find myself image searching the net quite a bit for well worn knives of all makers.

I agree. Coolness can be earned or enhanced over time, use, and individual reputation.

"This knife is cool because I gutted more than 200 salmon with it and it saved my life when I used it to cut a rope wrapped around my hand that was attached to a sinking crab pot."

 

[craytab]

Coolness, obviously.

 

[shinyedges]

What is it? Looks good. The knife that is.

Ben Seward bodyguard without the recurve, by my request.

 

[BladeScout]

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

Didn't see "sharp" or "stabby" on the poll. That's a big cool factor for me. So I just went for cutting performance which I figured includes sharp. But I really like stabby too. Now that i think about it, sharp is more functional, but stabby adds more.cool. I'm going with stabby.

Oh, also.selected "who cares what other people think". What matters is that the owner thinks it's cool.

 

[danbot]

Didn't see "sharp" or "stabby" on the poll. That's a big cool factor for me. So I just went for cutting performance which I figured includes sharp. But I really like stabby too. Now that i think about it, sharp is more functional, but stabby adds more.cool. I'm going with stabby.

Oh, also.selected "who cares what other people think". What matters is that the owner thinks it's cool.

But just because the owner thinks it's cool, doesn't make it cool.

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

There are a lot of things that can make a knife cool, but what aspects raise the coolness factor the most? What does it take to make a knife really cool?

Me. I make knives cool.

Cool is a weird word. I think it's like cars. A combination of looks and performance. Some knives look good, but dont cut and other knives cut well, but are fugly. Not cool.

 

[katanas]

Is it "cool" or VERY special? (perhaps both)
"This knife is cool because I gutted more than 200 salmon with it and it saved my life when I used it to cut a rope wrapped around my hand that was attached to a sinking crab pot."

[/QUOTE]

 

[Mecha]

Me. I make knives cool.

Cool is a weird word. I think it's like cars. A combination of looks and performance. Some knives look good, but dont cut and other knives cut well, but are fugly. Not cool.

The IS cool, and I like your assessment. Cars really are the ultimate analogy vehicle, no pun intended.

 

[Wowbagger]

I think these three are really cool.
The lines and curves of all three drew me in because they just look great but turns out the shape(s) in all three are highly functional so even though they looked cool the fact that the shapes add function pushes it over the top into REALLY COOL.

And these are for the most part highly affordable knives. If they were expensive and looked good and were functional that would be cool but since they don't cost all that much . . . again . . . that is REALLY COOL.

As far as not caring what other people think (there are a few people I do pay attention to their views because they know so freekin' much more than me) . . .
The Ouroboros was not popular generally. I kept hearing "Too Small", "Too Small", the whole time I was researching and deciding whether or not to buy one. I liked the size before I bought it, for this type of blade shape, and now that I have had it for a year I still like it. Other than the funny washers in the pivot my love for the knife hasn't changed.

It is kind of interesting how these knives have similar lines / curves . . . they kind of go together in a collection and they are all three good, highly functional, knives that can stand alone on their own merits (not just looks).

I voted : Neat shape / design, Cutting performance and Who cares what people think.
So far that seems to be keeping me happy so I'm sticking with it.
I don't mind some exotic materials thrown in but so many of those knives, even though they are out of my price range, often suck performance wise . . . at least in my view.
Blade too thick
Handle too slick
in addition many with the above have grooves and holes in the blade that trap debris.
As W.C. Fields said : Like an elephant. Nice to look at. Wouldn't want to own one.

 

[Ajack60]

Reminds me of the song by Barbara Mandrell “I was country when country wasn’t cool”,

I go for rare, neat shape and cutting ability

 

[DocJD]

Initial attraction cool encompasses all of the above . But long term , keeper cool is based on design , performance and having something that works for YOU regardless of what anybody else thinks .

 

[19-3ben]

To me, the coolest knives tend to have fairly classic and not particularly eye catching shapes/lines that happen to perform very well because the design has evolved and been refined over generations and centuries of people who actually really used knives a lot!

A puukko being a good example of what I mean.

 

[Comeuppance]

I almost tried to derail the thread by declaring this a "cool knives in cool places" picture thread, but I decided to make a separate one instead.

What makes knives cool to me is a combination of many factors. The blade grind and finish, the handle shape and materials, the overall form factor, and if there are any notable stories or etc attached to the creation or your ownership of the knife.

If we're going to take coolness and try to make it objective, then you have to go with what most people think is cool - so, you're basically left with mall knives and rambo knives, and then it really just boils down to how sick the blade looks and how many sweet skulls and blood grooves are part of the design.

What makes a knife cool to us seems to be more utilitarian aspects - materials, functional grinds, etc - combined with clean lines and interesting design elements. Knives that are cool to us tend to be the knives that accomplish being a reliable cutting tool while having a fresh take on otherwise commonplace elements. Grant and Gavin Hawk make cool knives. Elijah Isham makes cool knives. Spyderco (sometimes) makes cool knives. Zero Tolerance will occasionally make a knife that is so cool that, after a limited release, they release it ten thousand times in smaller assisted forms and also have the design stolen from them but still never get around to making a full production version of the original knife. Stuff like that.

 

[ScooterG]

Cool: It’s a balance of something new and exciting that doesn’t get too far away from familiarity of an old product.

Take that funky WE Eschaton. It was a bit too far away from the familiar and didn’t strike the balance. Now look at the Benchmade Bugout. Incredibly popular and based on a familiar design but with enough newness (color, weight) that it stood out from current offerings.

 

[Arian29]

For me a knife is cool in below order:

1)Neat shape/design
2)Cutting Performance
3)With the above 2, ‘Who cares what
people think’

 

[chumaman]

Deep Cool